You Smiled Because You Knew
by fim-damaskino
Summary: Rin's a florist, and Haru's an art student who keeps coming to his flower shop. Rin has no idea what to make of it.
1. Chapter 1

_He's been sitting there for about two hours now._

There was a guy—probably a college student—who had tucked himself behind the asters and was sitting on the ground with a sketchbook. This was the second day he'd done this. Yesterday, he'd sat in front of the sweet peas for an entire afternoon.

Normally, Rin wouldn't be this bothered. People came into his shop all the time just to stare at the flowers, and while it'd be nice if everyone who visited was also a prospective customer, it wasn't all that uncommon. But the one in his shop right now never said a word and barely even acknowledged Rin's presence at all. It was also Tuesday, and he never got many customers on Tuesdays, so it was just him and the artist stewing in silence. He couldn't stand it.

Would it kill him to at least…look in Rin's direction?

In the next half hour, Rin rearranged his cash register and sorted out a new shipment of flowers with as much noise and large gestures as he could. He felt ridiculous while he did it but he was also pretty sure he had a dumb, inexplicable need to be acknowledged in the stupidest of situations. Like this one.

The boy behind the asters looked at him maybe once when he dropped a large bag of soil onto his counter with a huff and made several loose metal things fall over and clang loudly. And then he went straight back to his sketchbook.

For the rest of the day, Rin moped in the corner and made at least twice his daily quota of bouquets.

(He then realized that most of them would probably go to waste now and despaired.)

* * *

Today it was chrysanthemums, and while the taciturn boy sat in front of the flowers, Rin glared holes into them behind him. Thankfully, Wednesdays meant that one of the country clubs down the road had their weekly meeting, so he could at least distract himself by making arrangements with the lady in charge of the orchestration. She was always very specific and kept him on the phone with her for an hour, but Rin was almost thankful for the excuse to work.

Of course, she wanted chrysanthemums this week.

Part of Rin was weirdly excited and another part actually had the gall to be nervous. He wasted the first moments after hanging up just staring in the direction of the flowers he'd been glaring at earlier.

_What the fuck are you waiting around like an idiot for,_ he screamed internally and almost slapped himself.

He walked over to the chrysanthemums as casually as he could and studied them, finally deciding on a few that he took off the shelf. And then—_casually_—he spared a glance for the guy sitting by them.

Rin had to force himself to keep a neutral face when he saw the wide-eyed expression the guy was giving him.

He still wasn't saying anything.

"Um," Rin started, and damn it what did he mean with that pleading expression? "Were you drawing these?" Obviously, because looking down at his sketchbook, Rin could see that the boy had been drawing the exact cluster he'd just taken away.

Slowly, Rin put them back and took the ones in the other corner. The boy took one look at the flowers and just stared at him.

"Oh, um, they were like this, right?" Rin said, and rotated the flowers he'd put back to the left.

But the look was still unsatisfied, so he inched them slightly to the right.

Clearly he was a failure anyway, because the boy sighed and got up, rearranging the flowers by himself.

"Ah," Rin said stupidly.

"Thanks," was the only reply before he went back to sketching again and Rin awkwardly scuffled off to the side to make the damn chrysanthemum arrangements.

_What what what what, _he had no idea what just happened and felt like banging his head on the wall. And when his cellphone rang suddenly, he almost dropped the flowers in his arms.

"Gou?"

_"Brother! I'm coming over in a few minutes!"_

"…Why?"

_"I need a favor!"_

"And here I thought maybe you just wanted to see your brother."

Gou ignored him. _"One of my friends wants to ask this girl out and I said it'd be really sweet if he gave her flowers and that you're a florist so can you make him a nice bouquet for her?"_

"I'm a little busy right now…"

_"Please? Just something really quick, it doesn't have to be fancy!"_

"I—"

_"Thanks, you're the best!"_ The line went dead before Rin could say anything else.

He groaned and set everything down, postponing his job to make the cheesiest bouquet he could come up with. Gou burst in the shop not five minutes later.

"You're the best brother, you know that?"

He sighed and continued cutting the stems of the flowers he'd picked. "So are you going to be paying for these for him?"

His sister gave him those awful, awful puppy eyes and wheedled, "Free of charge? For the best sister?"

Rin rolled his eyes. "When was the last time I got anything free from you?"

"Isn't me visiting you enough?"

"You have ulterior motives, this doesn't count."

Rin thought he might have heard soft laughter coming from the direction of the chrysanthemums, but before he could think about it, the door of the shop swung open again and a tall, kind-looking man walked in. He gave a cheerful greeting to the two at the counter before going straight to the artist on the ground.

"Haru-chan," he said, "did you forget that you said you'd help me babysit today?"

The boy (Haru, apparently) frowned up at him. "No."

"There's only fifteen minutes before we have to go over."

"I was leaving soon."

The tall one chuckled and scratched his head. "Well, might as well come with me now, right?"

Haru wordlessly gathered up his pencils and books in his bag and got up, exiting the store.

After they were gone, Gou sidled up to him with a wicked grin on her face. "So…who was that?"

Rin blinked. "I don't know."

"Really? Because you were staring at him the whole time."

"I—I was _not_."

"Oooh. 'Course not, silly me."

"He's just been coming in here for the past three days to draw flowers."

"Hm."

"I've barely even talked to him."

"Mhmmm."

"Dammit Gou just take these flowers to loverboy and leave me alone."

"Which loverboy are we talking about here?" she poked his cheeks and Rin realized he was completely red in the face. He glared down at the flowers in his hands and hastily wrapped them up.

"Just take these."

He could feel Gou's teasing eyes on him as she walked out the door, and this time he really did slap his face, willing the heat to go down.

* * *

Thursday it was morning glories. Friday it was purple lilacs.

Saturday, he didn't come at all and Rin thought what he felt was probably disappointment.

* * *

_A/N: I've always loved flower shop and artist AU's, so that's how this happened. I'm the opposite of an expert in flowers though, so although I did some research, please let me know if I got something totally wrong! XD (and sorry this chapter is so short, the others will be longer probably)_


	2. Chapter 2

Rin tried to pretend he wasn't completely preoccupied with the boy who had filled the corners of his shop for five days, but when he didn't come back on Sunday either, he noticed. Sorely.

That's okay, Rin rationalized subconsciously. Maybe he had, like…friends yesterday. It was Saturday, so he'd probably made plans with people or something (of course, this just reminded Rin that all he did yesterday was sit in his shop and sell flowers). And maybe he just didn't do anything on the weekends, like teachers. And students. And the majority of the middle class workforce.

And anyway, who cared about the Haru guy's work schedule?

He grabbed his scissors with more force than necessary and measured out some ribbon.

And even if his schedule was totally different, what did it matter to Rin? Rin was a florist. A respectable, manly florist who took the oath of a long line of florists to never get caught up in his customers' dealings because did you know that the consumers of flowers are typically emotional shits? Except Haru wasn't really a consumer, so he didn't count. Probably. But he also had no right to be running around his head like that because Rin was _not_ an emotional shit and none of this made any sense.

"If you're done sulking over flowers, can I remind you that it's time to close up?" Gou's voice broke into his thoughts suddenly and his head jerked to the side.

"When did you get— I'm not sulking over flowers!"

"Sure. That artist guy didn't come today either?"

"I—you expect me remember everyone who comes in this shop?"

"He didn't, did he."

"…No."

Gou giggled and pat him on the shoulder. "It's okay, I'm sure he'll come around sooner or later."

Rin frowned and locked up for the day, but not before staring some more at the corners Haru had sat in and subjecting himself to more of Gou's teasing.

* * *

Monday, and still nothing. Rin started jumping to conclusions by the time Tuesday rolled by and still nothing happened (_what if he thinks the shop is dumb, what if I said something, what if he's sick, what if he got hit by truck)_. On the off hand, he also got increasingly more frustrated with himself because he'd been running this shop for years now, so why did the absence of one person he'd barely even talked to bother him so much?

Haru didn't show up for the rest of the week either, and by the time it was Sunday again, Rin had given up. It was time to think about things that directly pertained to his well-being. Like food. Food was far more important than this. So on his way back from work, he stopped by the market to stock up on groceries.

He greeted the old lady by the produce who'd always smiled at him since he was child, and pushed a cart to the back, where the meat was. As he went, he nearly bumped into a tall guy who looked suspiciously like the one who had picked up Haru that one day.

"Ah, sorry," the man apologized and bowed quickly before running off, seemingly searching for someone.

That should have been his first warning, but Rin always had a one-track mind, so he shrugged off his suspicions and continued browsing. There was a sale on the Angus, but not on the spare ribs, but he kind of wanted chicken this week. Maybe he should check if there was any decently-priced seafood. He decided to check the aisle out before committing to anything.

It turned out that there _was_ a discount on salmon, but a giggling couple took the last package right before he got there, so he huffed in annoyance and looked around the empty bin. They actually had eel this time, but no sales on that one. He let out a sigh, because he hadn't had eel in years because of its pricey-ness. Why was seafood all so expensive?

He was so deep in thought that he was caught completely and totally off-guard when he looked up. Suddenly, he was face-to-face with the very person he'd been thinking about for the last week, nearly making him drop the package of shrimp he'd picked up.

_Haru?_

"Hi." Rin said the first thing that came into his mind. The boy stared back at him.

He hadn't really taken in the quiet artist's appearance before, but now that he was right in front of him, Rin was noticing everything all at once. _Everything, _from his pale trench coat and casually-wrapped scarf to his soft, black hair and smooth skin and beautiful, clear, blue eyes and—he almost hid his face in embarrassment.

_What the hell am I even thinking?_

He breathed shakily in a pitiful attempt slow his racing heart down. "You're the one…who was drawing things in my shop last week."

"Ah. Yeah," the boy replied, and Rin wanted to cry because he was being so awkward that he was surprised Haru hadn't just walked away by now.

At this point, Rin's brain was so tied up that it failed to filter anything so just he blurted out, "Why didn't you come this week?"

_Ohgod ohgod ohgod why did you say that you're such a loser what the fuck what the fuck—_

Haru gave him a small grin that was almost…cheeky. "Did you want me to?"

Rin nearly fell over. "I—what—what do you mean, I—n-NO!" he sputtered and turned around as quickly as he could, throwing the shrimp into his cart and fast-walking away. No shame in fleeing. No shame.

… No, there was definitely enough shame in him to make him want to curl under a blanket and never come out again.

He paid for the shrimp and shuffled out of the market as fast he could, almost forgetting to wave goodbye to the produce lady. She gave him a questioning look at his obviously flustered state, but he just laughed nervously and ran out. The entire bus ride home had him rubbing furiously at his face and hitting his forehead against the window, earning him some really cautious glances from the people around him.

It wasn't until he got home that he realized he hadn't bought nearly enough food to last him the week.

Fuck all this. He was going straight to bed.

* * *

Rin had hoped that a good night's sleep would help him get over the confusion from yesterday, but all the memories hit him like a truck as soon as he woke up. He trudged to work and went about his day with a cloud over his head, burying himself in the flowers so he could push those thoughts to the back of his mind.

At least it was a busy day, so he went from order to order with as much single-minded concentration as he could.

_Sunflowers for the lady on 5__th__ Street, snowdrops for the guy who works for the printing company…what the hell, snowdrops? _Rin made a note to remind himself to call the man to tell him that snowdrops didn't bloom until _November_ and he had no idea why he hadn't realized this issue sooner. But he went to work on the sunflowers, taking out a larger razor to cut the thick stems. The lady wanted these as soon as possible, so he had to get them ready fast.

…Which was never a good idea, because he ended up nicking his finger on the blade.

"Ah, SHIT," he muttered through gritted teeth. He grabbed the finger with his other hand and bent down to look for bandaids.

No first-aid kit anywhere.

"Ugh, where did I put that…" Rin stood up quickly to head to the back room or something, but right as he turned, he saw someone standing at the counter in front of him. Someone really, miserably familiar.

"You!" he screeched. This couldn't be real.

"Me," the illusion echoed.

It had to be a hallucination. He was imagining things. Clearly, Rin had gone crazy in the past few days because there was no way that was Haru standing in front of him like there was absolutely nothing out of place in this picture.

"Ah," was all Rin could manage.

The face that may or may not have been a figment of his imagination shifted his gaze to his finger. "You're bleeding."

Rin jolted, remembering the pain in his finger all of a sudden. "Oh—I just—was gonna go find a bandaid or something—"

Haru pointed to something behind him. "You mean in the first-aid kit on your wall?"

"Aha… yeah that one, I'll, um, be right back." He spun around, grabbed the container and ran to the back room.

After cleaning his cut and plastering a bandage over his finger, Rin walked back out tentatively, to ascertain whether the other boy was still there or not.

He was.

Ohgod, he hadn't imagined it. Why was he here. Hadn't Rin embarrassed himself enough already?

"Haha, sorry about that!" he said as nonchalantly as he could as he went back to the counter. "Was there something you needed? I'm Matsuoka Rin, by the way."

"Nanase Haruka. You said you didn't want me to come, so I thought I would just to spite you."

So that's what his name actually was. Wait—"I didn't mean it like that!" Rin couldn't tell if the other boy was being serious or not; his face was completely deadpan and unreadable. He had never been good at patching up situations, so he just made frantic motions with his arms. "I just—You can come here whenever you want!"

Shit, was that too unnatural? It was a normal thing for a shopkeeper to say, right?

Haruka just smiled softly, and his heart felt lighter.

Rin watched him sit by the asters again and take out his sketchbook. He looked at home among the purple flowers, and Rin admired the pretty picture for a few moments before remembering the sunflowers he had to take care of.

"So are you an art student, Nanase-kun?" Rin finally gathered the courage to ask as he arranged the flowers.

"Mm." Haruka set his pencil down and looked at him.

"That's…cool. You must be really good, then."

The artist shrugged and leaned back. "So how did you get into floristry?"

"Well," Rin began, though judging by the boy's face, he wasn't sure if he was actually interested or not, "this used to be my father's shop. And my grandfather's before him. It's kind of a family business, I guess. My father taught me from when I was young and I enjoyed it so I took over after he passed away."

"Sorry."

"About what?"

"Your father."

Rin's hands stilled. "Oh. Well…it was long time ago."

Haruka looked as if he was evaluating his face for a few seconds before shrugging.

Clearly this guy wasn't much of a talker. "What about you? Do you go to the university down the road?"

"Mhm."

Rin wracked his brain, but that was the end of any conversational topics he could think of. This was exhausting. Putting the flowers aside, he picked up the phone. "Hold on a sec, I have to give someone a call."

The boy nodded and went back to his sketchbook.

* * *

To Rin's surprise, Haruka visited the next day too. And the next. For the rest of the week, the artist would walk into his shop after classes and sit in the same corner. He didn't talk much—not at all, some days—but he seemed content just to listen to the florist speak.

Rin found that he actually enjoyed the boy's quiet presence now that the silence wasn't as awkward and suffocating. Sometimes the artist would walk over to watch him work on an order and just hover by the counter, and all of his regular customers recognized him now. One of the elderly ladies had immediately remarked on how pretty his new friend was, going up to Haruka and pinching his cheeks. He'd never seen anyone's eyes alone give such a desperate cry for help before.

Even Gou dropped by one day and pulled him aside to whisper, "See, I told you he'd be back!" He had shaken her off indignantly. Because _Haruka could be in earshot, shut up._

Before he realized it, it was Monday again. The artist had made himself at home in his corner, just like all the other days, sketching while Rin took care of his orders. It had been a slow day because of the rough weather.

"How was class?" Rin asked him while he arranged a gift basket.

"Fine. My professor liked the flowers, but I have to do something else for my final project."

"Oh. You mean the ones you were drawing two weeks ago?"

"Mhm."

"Maybe you should draw people with flowers," he joked.

Haruka gave him a look that Rin was still no closer to being able to read. "I don't draw people." He gripped his sketchbook tightly to his chest.

"I was joking."

"Hm."

He was staring intently at the basket Rin was working on, and by this point, the florist could at least tell when the boy was interested and just not saying anything. He pulled it over to him and picked up some of the lilies.

"I'm doing a radial design for this one…think I might add some carnations."

Haruka watched him wordlessly like he had for the past few days.

"See, everything circles outward from the leaves in the middle. And I have to reinforce some of these stems with wires before I put them in the flower foam. Do you think I should add lace?"

He got a clear look of "why would you ask me" for his question.

Then Haruka's phone rang, which startled Rin because he didn't think he'd ever seen the other boy on his phone before. The artist looked just as surprised when he picked up the call.

Rin went back to his flowers so as not to eavesdrop on their conversion, but he looked up when he heard Haruka throwing on his coat and saw him heading briskly for the door. His shoes made hurried squeaks on the wet floor.

"Wait, it's rain—"

Then he was gone.

"…ing."

And he didn't bring an umbrella.

Rin sighed when he saw that Haruka had also been in so much of a hurry that he'd left his sketchbook lying on his seat. As he got up to take it in for safekeeping, he was swamped with curiosity. He'd never actually seen what the guy had been drawing this whole time, and it couldn't hurt to just take a peek, right…?

He opened the book up to the most recently used page and almost dropped everything when he saw what was drawn on it, inhaling sharply and flipping backwards with fervor. His eyes raced as he took in every page until he hit the front cover.

Slowly, he closed the book and set it down.

_You don't draw people, huh?_

* * *

_A/N: Much thanks to Eclair (eclaratis on tumblr) being the best beta and for sitting with me on Skype and forcing me to write, because if it had been up to me, this chapter probably wouldn't have been written for weeks. Also for drawing some really amazing art, go stalk her tumblr!_


	3. Chapter 3

He'd spent the last few hours not being able to stop himself from looking at the drawings over and over again. At least a dozen pages were filled with sketches of himself, most of them depicting him cutting flowers or wrapping them in bouquet. Some were close-ups of his face, and a few of them were beautifully colored with pastels. Rin's heart pounded as he studied the drawings and noticed that each one had an airy grace about them. He felt wonder and embarrassment all at once.

Why had Haruka drawn so many pictures of him?

It was before Rin was about to close for the day that he heard the door swing open, and he nearly jumped out of his seat when he saw who it was.

Haruka was standing there with his head down and drenched in rainwater. There was dead silence between them as Rin stared, unsure of what to say.

"You left your sketchbook here," he stated as Haruka walked up to him. He pulled out the sketchbook gracelessly and handed it to the artist, who accepted it with a grim face.

The silence continued and Rin fidgeted as he waited for the other boy to say something. When he finally did, his voice wavered and it was so soft that Rin wouldn't have caught it if it hadn't been completely quiet in the store. "Did you look in it?"

Blue eyes stared into his as he gulped. "…A little."

Haruka's entire body tensed before he looked down again, and Rin flushed when he saw that the artist's cheeks were tinged with pink.

"Why did you draw me?" he ventured and immediately regretted it because the other boy curled into himself even more and looked as if he was going to bolt at any second.

"I don't…know, really." He shifted so his bangs covered his eyes and Rin couldn't see his expression. "Sorry. I'll stop."

"No!" the florist blurted and it must have startled Haruka because he snapped his head up and looked at him with wide eyes. "I mean. It's okay."

The artist stayed quiet, and Rin couldn't tell what he was thinking. "They were really good. The drawings, I mean. I wouldn't mind if you drew me more. I've never had anyone draw me before and I liked them a lot, so…"

There was silence in the shop again. The florist fiddled with one of the cut stems on his counter and his eyes darted around, not sure where he was trying to take this.

"My final project."

"Huh?" Rin jumped to attention when he realized that Haruka's lips were upturned and he was actually looking at him now.

"…Can I draw you for my final project?"

Rin blinked. "I—yeah…sure," he said after a beat, taken by surprise.

"You'd have to sit a lot."

"I don't mind."

He seemed to relax. Rin was as thankful as he was confused, and he watched in silence as Haruka ripped a piece of paper from his sketchbook and wrote something on it. "That's the address of the studio I'm using. Are you free tomorrow?"

"I close at 8," Rin said as he took the paper and tucked it into his pocket.

"Can you come over at 8:30 then? If it's not too late. Just to start."

"Sure. I'll see you then, Nanase-kun."

The artist looked up at him. "You can call me Haru," he said after a pause, casting his gaze down and not meeting his eyes. Rin grinned.

"Alright, Haru."

The artist gave him a small smile before turning and walking out the door, leaving Rin alone to process what just happened.

* * *

The place that Haru directed him to was surprisingly pretty close to his flower shop, so Rin walked over after locking up the next day. It was only about a ten minute walk, so he could see why Haru found it so easy to just drop by every day. The building itself was nondescript and seemed to be some sort of apartment complex, with a distinct lack of flowers or decorative greenery.

The number on the scrap paper told him to find room 418. When Rin took the elevator to the fourth floor, though, he found that the numbers on the doors ended at 410. He back-tracked and circled around the level in confusion.

There was definitely no room 418 on this floor.

Had Haru set him up? The thought was even more confusing because he couldn't think of any reason why he might do that. Just to make sure, Rin double-checked the walls for extra doors. Nothing.

He was about to leave in frustration when the elevator dinged and he saw a man walk out. Rin would have ignored him, but he flinched when he realized that this was one of Haru's friends; the same on he'd seen in his shop and at the market. Why was he here? The man seemed to notice him before Rin could react.

"Oh, hi!" he waved. "You're the florist who Haru-chan's been visiting a lot, right?"

"…Yeah, I guess so?" Rin slowly turned to face him but stood rooted in his spot several feet away from the man, who walked right up to him anyway and held out his hand expectantly.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Tachibana Makoto." The man grabbed the hand that Rin lifted tentatively and shook it with fervor.

"Matsuoka Rin," he replied, giving the man a weird look because where did he even come from and _why was he here_?

"If you're looking for Haru-chan's room, it's on the other side of the floor but you have to take the other elevator because that side isn't connected with this one. I can show you there, if you'd like."

Rin considered his options. The smart thing to do would be to accept the help, but that would put him in a position of someone who needed help and that really rubbed him the wrong way. On the other hand, if he spent more time trying to search for Haru's room by himself, he'd probably end up being late. So he swallowed his pride and finally detached his hand from Makoto's grasp. "Okay. Thanks."

The other man smiled sunnily at him and started walking toward the stairs. Rin would have been content to spend the walk in silence, but Makoto seemed to be one of those naturally sociable people who wouldn't begin to fathom silence. He turned and waited until Rin was looking at him to say, "Haru-chan's told me a lot about you!"

"…Really?" Rin was dubious. Haru was as far from sociable as they came and had barely said five words about his life to him.

"Well, he told me who you were, and that's a lot if we're talking about Haru-chan." Makoto laughed lightly, shaking his head. "I'm glad he's meeting new people though."

"Guy doesn't get around much, does he?"

"He's not shy, he's just quiet. Usually he just sits in his studio and paints, and I have to drag him out so he doesn't faint from the fumes or something."

Rin scoffed. "That bad?"

"Sometimes I think maybe he just likes the smell of turpentine, but that's ridiculous, right?"

"I'd hope so."

Makoto laughed with a hint of nervousness. "I found him passed out in front of a canvas one day. That was really scary. But in the end he was just sleeping, and he got mad at me for waking him up."

It was just like the guy to pull something like that. Rin almost rolled his eyes.

They looped up the stairs on the other side of the third floor and came to a hallway that looked identical to one he had been searching in before. Makoto strolled down to one of the last doors and knocked. "Haru-chan never answers the door," he said after only a second of pause, putting his hand on the doorknob in a manner that seemed like it had years of practice.

There was a look of surprise on his face when the door opened by itself. Haru stood there in a smock with a brush in one hand, looking equally confused at the sight of the two of them.

"…Makoto? What are you doing here?"

The man in question withdrew his hand and laughed. "Haru-chan! I was just showing Rin where your room was, because he was on my side of the floor."

Rin bristled. "How was I supposed to know you're supposed to use the other side?"

"Hm." Haru stepped to the side to let him in, glancing at Makoto. "Do you need anything else?"

"Nope, I just got back from my last class and saw Rin."

"Alright. Bye." The artist gave Makoto a small wave before closing the door.

"He's not coming in?" Rin asked.

"Why would he?" Haru raised an eyebrow and gave him a weird look. He walked over to a sink and stuck his brush in a jar of some sort before turning the faucet on and grabbing a bar of soap. "I need to clean this brush, can you hold on for a second?"

Rin walked around hesitantly, not sure if he should sit down somewhere or if Haru was one of those artists that flipped their shit if someone touched their workspace.

The studio was surprisingly neat for an artist. He had expected racks of half-finished canvases, scrap paper littering the table or paint spatters on the ground, but the floor was relatively clean and it wasn't nearly as messy as he'd thought it would be. There was a stool and an easel sitting in the center of room with a chair in front of them, and a window with no curtains looked out onto the night street below.

A stove and a fridge were tucked into the corners of the far side, and there was even a bed behind a small divide. At this point, Rin realized that this wasn't really a studio; it was a long, one-room apartment and Haru had turned most of the living space into an art room.

The boy looked over his shoulder at him, probably judging him for standing in one place and just staring at the room. "You can sit on the chair."

"Oh. Okay." Rin sauntered over and waited as the artist wrapped the brush in a paper towel and set it to the side.

"I just want to do some sketches today to get some ideas down. It'll probably take around half an hour." Haru picked up a large sketchbook and set it on the easel, sitting on the stool with a set of chalks.

"That's fine."

"You can take a break halfway-through. Think you can sit still for fifteen minutes?"

Rin almost laughed. "Of course I can. I was an athlete in high school, you know. I'm not delicate just because I work with flowers."

"If you say so."

He side-eyed the artist, who looked rather unconvinced. Fifteen minutes should be nothing, he thought to himself.

"So…you live here?" Rin said after a moment.

"Yeah. I used to room with Makoto on the other side and had this rented out as a work space, but I live here now."

"Why?"

The artist shrugged and picked up a pastel. "I feel more at home here. Anyway, please don't move."

Rin caught himself leaning forward and sat back, straightening himself and staying as still as possible.

"Relax. You'll get tired in two minutes with that pose."

It was looking to be a long half hour after all.

* * *

For the first fifteen minutes, Rin just sat on the chair and watched Haru draw, trying not to move his head with his eyes. During that time, the artist turned into the strange boy in his shop again, sitting in his corner without a noise. He was as quiet as he was enigmatic; even after the last week, Rin still barely knew anything about him. All he'd gotten was an age group and a major.

And that, apparently, he liked to draw Rin.

Haru made gestures behind the sketchbook and still didn't say a word, but this time Rin noticed how at peace he looked against the backdrop of his art environment. Haru seemed to revel in silence, like it was part of his nature. It almost made Rin want to jump up or shout or knock his chair over just to get a reaction from the boy, but that'd be inappropriate so he kept his ridiculous urges to himself.

In the second half, the artist made him do different poses every five minutes, ranging from sitting to standing. He'd make him turn his head one way, or shift his arm and hold it in the air while Rin felt the blood drain from it. He had so much more respect for life drawing models now.

By the time Haru said he was done, Rin was exhausted. He got up to stretch and felt the joints in his neck cracking, earning him a grimace from the artist.

"Can I see what you drew?" he asked while Haru was putting his chalks away.

Haru nodded. "They're probably not going to look like these when I paint them. Especially the last one. The sun salutation pose is pretty silly."

"Why did you make me do it then?" Rin grumbled, rubbing his forearms to get the blood back into them. Haru just gave him a blank stare, and Rin sighed before walking around to look at the sketchbook.

There were multiple little sketches on the page, with some of them focusing on his face and others just a general outline of his body. Haru's strokes were light and careful and he didn't use many colors, but they were stunning regardless. Rin reached out and touched the paper, careful to not touch the chalk.

Beautiful…Rin couldn't get over how beautiful they were.

"You're a really good artist," He said as Haru watched for his reaction.

_Wow, bravo, kudos to you for your stellar complimenting abilities. Go ahead and state the obvious._

"…Thanks." Haru took the sketchbook from under his hands and started to put it away. "I prefer the ones in the flower shop, though. You looked more comfortable there."

"Huh?"

"…Nevermind."

Rin suppressed a laugh. "Do you want me to bring you flowers next time?" he joked.

"That might work," Haru replied, completely seriously.

The florist almost choked, but he seemed to not notice as he walked over to a closet to put on some shoes and a coat.

"I'm going out to eat now," Haru turned back to him and waited.

"Oh." Rin stood up and threw his own coat on, heading towards the door. "I guess I'll get going, then. When do you want to meet up next?"

The artist regarded him silently for a moment. Then, "Don't you want to come with me?"

"Oh." He felt a little dumb. Clearly he was missing social cues, but this was Haru and he'd beg some leeway here. "That'd be nice."

Haru smiled, and Rin's heart jumped a bit. "There's a seafood diner downstairs and to the right, if you don't mind that. They stay open pretty late."

"Sounds fancy."

"It's small and not too expensive. I can treat you though, for being my model."

Rin shook his head vehemently. "No way. We'll go Dutch."

"If you say so." Haru shrugged as he pushed the door open and stepped into the lobby. Rin followed beside him and they walked to the elevator together.

As they went, Rin couldn't help but marvel at the graceful way the artist walked. He had this air about him that was easy to gloss over, but when you actually watched him, everything about him was elegant and he moved like a small stream.

Rin had tried to ignore it before, but…Haru was honestly really pretty. Not in a girly way, but even his skin was smooth and his hair brushed lightly against his cheeks as he walked. He'd wrapped his scarf around the bottom half of his face to block out the spring chill, and all Rin could see were his eyes.

There were a lot of things to be said about those eyes.

"Argh," Rin said out loud, and the artist gave him a questioning look. He flushed and turned away. "It's nothing."

He slapped a hand over his forehead, even though he knew Haru was watching him, probably judging.

_I should really stop before I dig myself too deep._

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter! Pokemon was super distracting, and school's going to be keeping me pretty busy too. Hope you enjoyed this chapter though~_


	4. Chapter 4

In a couple of weeks, Rin and Haru had fallen into a comfortable routine where Rin would go over to Haru's apartment whenever they had time, and they'd grab dinner together afterwards. Sometimes, Haru would cook for them and Rin was surprised to learn that he was actually a pretty proficient cook—proficient being a blanket term, since he only ever cooked seafood. Rin suggested a beef or pork dish once. He was given a look, and he couldn't tell if it meant Haru didn't know any red meat dishes or if the artist really couldn't stand anything but fish.

Rin's seafood intake had definitely increased in past few weeks, anyway.

Haru had also taken to showing up at the shop a few hours before closing, like he had before. Most of his time there was spent either observing or making small sketches, but occasionally he helped Rin move things around the shop. Some of his customers saw him and assumed he was an assistant or a volunteer, and they'd ask him questions only to have Haru stare at them blankly before explaining with the verboseness of a tree stump that he wasn't an employee. It had gotten to point where, if there was an influx of customers in the shop, he would either shrink into the back room or retreat behind Rin.

At first, he'd cease interaction altogether if the florist questioned his actions, but recently he'd at least look a little guilty or say something to change the subject. Sometimes, they'd actually have mildly engaging conversations. Haru's deadpan humor was something Rin would never get over, though.

A quiet, level voice broke him out of his thoughts. "It's six o'clock."

It was Saturday now, and Haru had been in the shop the entire afternoon.

"Hold up, I'm just going to finish wrapping these up for the day." Ribbons were the worst part, because scraps tended to get everywhere and it was hard enough cleaning everything else off afterwards. "Sorry, it might take a few minutes. Oh yeah, did we say we'd be drawing today?"

Haru dropped his book into his bag and got up to lean against Rin's counter. "My friends planned a dinner gathering, actually."

"Ah. Another time, then." Rin looked back down to the flowers in his hand. When he thought about it, he couldn't remember Haru mentioning any friends other than Makoto. He was a little disappointed, and then immediately felt bad because _of course_ Haru had friends and places to be other than hanging around him all the time.

There was a pair of blue eyes in front of him when he looked back, watching him owlishly. "Do you want to come?"

Rin blinked. "Me? I don't know your friends."

"You know Makoto."

"Yeah, barely. I wouldn't want to intrude." …He said that, but he was actually pretty curious about what kinds of people Haru called his friends.

"You'd hardly be intruding," the boy said with a quirk of his mouth. "They're the type of people who'd jump at meeting someone new."

"You sure?"

"Positive. They roped me into their group, anyway."

Rin had to chuckle at that, imagining a stoic Haru getting pestered into interactions and parties by some faceless but enthusiastic group of people. "Alright. Just let me finish this last one and I'll close up."

Haru nodded, setting his bag down to help clean up some of the scraps around him into the garbage. "Most of them will probably be late, anyway."

It took Rin about fifteen minutes to wrap everything up and make sure everything was set for the night, and then he set out with Haru. The weather was getting warmer now, and people had already started setting up trinket and dessert stands along the street.

"Where are we going?" he asked as he walked beside the boy who had his head turned towards the stands.

"Mm, it's a restaurant on the other street over," Haru replied distractedly.

"Seafood?" Rin teased.

"No." The artist actually looked upset when he admitted it. "It's a steakhouse."

A whoop escaped Rin's mouth at this, and he shot a smug grin at the other boy's frown. "I'm liking these friends already."

Haru ignored him and walked faster, which Rin was okay with because that just meant they were getting closer to real meat. It'd be a welcome change from weeks of mostly fish.

* * *

When they got to the steakhouse, Makoto was already at a table. He waved the two of them over, only looking mildly surprised to see the florist standing beside his friend. Both of them were given warm greetings and a menu, which Haru continued to frown at.

"Nice to see you, Rin!" Makoto said when they both sat down. "Did you guys just come from your shop?"

Rin nodded. "I just closed up, and…"

"I invited him," Haru said.

Makoto took it all in stride and smiled airily. "The others aren't here yet, but Nagisa said he'd bring Rei over as soon as he could." He turned to Rin and informed him, "Rei's one of Haru-chan's classmates in the year under us. Nagisa's his boyfriend."

Haru leaned against his hand while flipping through the menu. "What's keeping Rei?"

"I think he was working on his New Media Theory homework."

"That assignment's not due until next Thursday," Haru said without looking up.

Makoto shrugged. "You know how he is."

Just as he said this, a boy with a shock of curly, blond hair ran up to them with a tall, blue-haired man in red glasses and a button-front shirt trailing behind him.

The first thing the blond one did was reach over and squeeze Haru in a tight hug. "Long time no see, Haru-chan!" He released Haru and did the same thing to Makoto.

"Hello Haruka-senpai, Makoto-senpai," the one in the glasses straightened up and said, giving a short bow when he regarded Rin.

"Hey, Nagisa." Haru smiled at the blond boy who was pulling the the taller one into a seat. "Did you finish your homework, Rei?"

Rei pushed his glasses up and sighed. "Unfortunately, no. I have at least three more pages to write, but Nagisa-kun made me come here before I could finish them."

"You promised!" The one called Nagisa pouted at him and tugged at his sleeve. Then he turned to Rin and looked happier to see him than anyone probably had in Rin's life. "It's so great to finally meet you, Rin-chan! Haru-chan didn't tell me you were coming!" He reached out for his hand and shook it fervently.

Rin blinked. "Wait, you know who I am?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Rin-chan-san," Rei added.

"Who—what you do you mean, _chan-san_?"

Rei looked unabashed, and Nagisa just grinned at him fondly while patting Rin's hand.

Actually, Nagisa looked and sounded really familiar, but he couldn't put a finger on where he'd seen the hyper-enthusiastic boy before. It was probably going to bother him the whole dinner.

Makoto motioned for the two to sit down and gave them menus to look at. Haru went back to giving the booklet in front of him very disappointed looks.

"Is that everyone?" he said aside to the artist.

"No, we're waiting for one more person."

"Oh yeah, what's keeping her?" Nagisa asked Makoto.

The man checked his phone and frowned. "She hasn't texted me."

Nagisa shrugged nonchalantly and turned his attention back to Haru, who was still frowning. "This is your first time here, right? Didja find something you want?"

"Where's the fish?"

Rin groaned. "Geez, eat something other than fish for once, Haru."

The boy just gave him an offended look.

"If you're okay with starving, fine."

Haru stuck his menu in front of Rin. "Then you order for me. Since you obviously know best."

"Mm." Rin tapped his chin in thought as he went to the meat section and said, "You should get the Philly Cheesesteak. And the breadstick side with meat sauce."

"No."

"Spare ribs, then. Barbecued."

Haru pressed his lips together and grabbed the menu back. "I want salmon."

Rin rolled his eyes. "You _just_ had salmon last night."

"I want salmon."

Nagisa giggled, suddenly leaning over towards them. "Are you Haru-chan's boyfriend?" he asked cheerfully.

Rin gaped. "_What?!"_

"You two are really cute!" The blond boy gave him a wide grin. "Are you dating?"

"I'm not—we're—no!" He ducked his head to the side and cursed himself when he felt his face getting warm. What even—where did that even come from? Did they _look_ that close?

"We're not," Haru said with a completely neutral expression.

"…Yeah." Rin confirmed, looking around at anyone but Haru.

Nagisa just laughed. "Aww! You'd be super adorable together, you know."

Rin gave Nagisa a look that was some variation of uneasy gratitude and stressed confusion, because what was he supposed to say about that? Haru went back to his menu, not nearly as affected by it as he was.

"Leave them alone, Nagisa," Rei said after a beat, and that was the end of that. "Come pick what you're going to order."

Rin unconsciously sighed in relief, glancing around the restaurant in search of something else to look at.

Suddenly, a shock of red hair appeared his field of vision, and he squinted as someone who looked _really fucking familiar_ walked towards the table.

"Sorry I'm late!" Rin stared at the girl as his brain rushed to catch up with his eyes. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting or any—"

"_Gou?"_ Rin almost jumped out of his seat in shock. His eyes widened and he looked back and forth between his sister, Haru, and the other three.

"—what? Wait. …_Brother?"_ Gou's jaw dropped. She pointed a finger accusingly at him and just short of screamed, "Why are you here?!"

"You're asking me?!" he stared at his sister, and then at the person who had brought him.

"You're related?" Haru interjected, looking confused.

Both Matsuoka's turned to look at him. Gou gave both of them a nervous laugh and Rin just nodded incredulously.

"Yeah. Looks like it." He grabbed his sister's hand and got up. "Can you just excuse us for a sec, please…?"

Gou scolded him in protest as he dragged her to a corner of the restaurant where the others couldn't hear them.

"Ow!" She pulled her hand from his grasp and rubbed it. "You're a real brute, you know?"

"Sorry," he said with at least a decent amount of apology in his voice. "But—you know them? Since when?"

She looked sheepish. "Well, Nagisa's one of my classmates…"

"And Haru?" he prodded. "You mean you knew who he was this whole time and didn't tell me?!"

"Okay, well, he didn't even recognize me when I was in the shop. He's kind of an airhead sometimes—"

"How in the world does that logic excuse you—"

"—but at least he's pretty."

"…What."

"You think he's pretty, right?"

Rin choked. "That—has nothing to do with anything!" he sputtered. "You're avoiding the question!"

"You didn't deny it," his sister wheedled with a knowing grin. "Don't worry, I won't steal him from you. I barely talk to him anyway."

"But you recognized him at the shop weeks ago," Rin hissed. "And you pretended you didn't just to screw around with me?"

Gou laughed nervously and looked very pointedly back to the others. "_Well_, I think it's time to get back to everyone, don't you? It's rude to keep everyone waiting, you know!"

Before Rin could object further, she had his arm in a vice grip and was leading him to the table where there were four people giving them questioning looks.

"What was that all about?" Rei asked.

"So Rin, you're Kou's brother?" Makoto laughed across the table. "Small world!"

"You guys look a lot like each other!" Nagisa added.

Rin grimaced. "Yeah. A small world after all and stuff."

Gou only smiled disarmingly before pulling out a chair and sitting down like the former discursion hadn't happened.

* * *

There were no more interruptions after that, and the rest of the dinner went relatively smoothly. Haru actually managed to locate salmon on the menu, and Nagisa made sure to recommend at least five different meat dishes to Rin.

It was hard not to enjoy the company of these people. They took his presence in stride and went on conversing as if they'd known him for years.

Gou, on one hand, spent the majority of the dinner whispering to Nagisa on the side. Both of them kept casting furtive glances at him and Haru, making Rin both confused and disturbed. At one point, he thought he heard, _"We could just lock them in a closet"—_he desperately hoped that he'd heard wrong. (Unfortunately, he knew Gou too well to really convince himself of that.)

Rei actually seemed quite interested in his occupation, though he would ask questions about the inherent beauty of the placement of every flower and then go on about something deep and philosophical that "clearly emphasized the splendor in the structure of societal traditions." According to him, the arrangement and retail of flowers was symbolic of a larger something that interlaced with the delicate pangs of love and emotions, and the art and language of flowers should be highly respected as one of the most beautiful forms of sculpture.

He wasn't someone Rin would ever peg for a florist, but at least he was passionate.

At that, Makoto had interjecting with, "Slow down, Rei! That's a little hard to understand for us who aren't artists."

Rin was mildly surprised. "You're not an artist?" He had kind of assumed that Makoto would be one, just by association with Haru.

The man laughed. "No, I'm majoring in linguistics. Right now though, I'm working towards getting a teaching degree."

"Wow. What are you planning on teaching?"

"I'm hoping to teach at the elementary school level." The man smiled and Rin decided that he could definitely see how that would fit.

"Makoto's good with kids," Haru supplied.

"Haru-chan's good with kids too! My little brother and sister love him."

"Really?" Rin didn't mean to look so doubtful, but it was hard to imagine Haru doing anything around children other than stare at them impassively.

"He's really nice to them!" Nagisa piped up across the table. Next to him, Gou was nodding enthusiastically and Rin felt her sending kicks at his shin.

Haru said nothing, just shrugging and going back to his salmon. He was the only one who hadn't finished his food by now; the boy was a slow eater and Rin was very familiar with that quirk of his. The others seemed content to sit and chat while waiting for him, though eventually Haru said aside to Makoto that it was okay for him to leave if he had to.

Nagisa caught it immediately and sent pleading looks at the man. "Aww, do you really have to go, Mako-chan? I was thinking we could go see a movie after this."

Makoto shook his head. "I have a lot of homework this weekend, so I can't stay much longer." He smiled apologetically. "Sorry! I'll definitely try my hardest to go with you next time."

The blond boy deflated with a pout, but quickly brightened up and turned his attention to the rest of the table. "Then you guys can come, right? It'll be really fun!"

"No," Rei said immediately, pushing his glasses up and waving the waiter over when he saw Haru had finished his food. "I need to study."

"What?" Nagisa gave him an incredulous look and clung to his forearm. "No way! You studied all day today!"

"Only for—"

"Shhhhh." A hand was clasped over Rei's mouth. "No words. No more thinking about those things, you need to come have fun with us sometimes too." Some muffled, indignant sounds came from behind Nagisa's hand. "Please?"

The boy gave him a downright pitiful look and Rin could just see the protest in Rei's eyes die a struggling death. He sighed in resignation and pulled the hand away from his mouth. "Fine."

He received a crushing hug from Nagisa in thanks. "You're the best, Rei-chan! How about Haru-chan and Rin-chan?"

Before Rin could consider his choices, Gou kicked him in the shin again and said, "They're coming. Right?" She smiled sweetly at him.

He sent an imploring look to Haru, who seemed thoroughly uninterested in everything. As soon as the younger two started to fix their eyes on him, though, he shrugged. "If Rin doesn't mind."

"I—"

"He doesn't!" Gou asserted, and Rin decided it would probably be easier if he just didn't argue.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay."

His sister gave him an approving look. "But are you sure you can't come with us, Makoto-senpai?"

The man in question smiled sadly. "Sorry, I have a paper due Monday and a project I really gotta work on. You guys go have fun though."

"Don't forget my exhibition tomorrow! 6 o'clock, in the west gallery." Rei added. "I don't mind if you just show up for a few minutes, but you don't want to miss this one."

"No worries, I'll be there."

Rei grinned. "Rin-san, you're invited too."

"I—" Rin blinked. "What is it? Your artwork?"

"Of course. It's a showing of my portfolio thus far. In this one particularly, I focused on the extensions of the human form and function and how the characteristics—"

"Rei does conceptual art," Haru said.

"—yes. Haruka-senpai is correct."

Rin had no idea what that meant, but if it was anything like what Haru did, he wouldn't be too opposed to seeing it. "Sure, I'll go. Let me know where it is when it's time?"

Haru nodded. "We can go after you lock up."

"Cool."

The waiter came and got their checks, and they all said goodbye to Makoto as he got up to leave. Nagisa refused to tell them what movie he was taking them to see, claiming that the best events were always surprises (Rin called bullshit, but he insisted). This bothered Rei the most out of all of them, but the blond boy seemed to have complete immunity towards all of his complaining, so Rin just got amusement out of watching the two gesture at each other. Gou fell right in step beside Nagisa, and both of them teased the bespectacled boy with ease and practice.

Haru walked quietly next him. When he caught Rin staring, he gave him a slight smile. "They're always like this," he said. "Always teasing Rei."

"Poor guy."

"I don't think Rei really minds that much. He likes Nagisa."

Rin chuckled. "I would hope so, Makoto said they're dating."

"Mhm. But it's hard not to like Nagisa, anyway."

"He's like…a teddy bear. Or a monkey."

Looking back to the three in front of them, Rin could see Rei getting increasingly frustrated as Nagisa played dumb and Gou laughed at them both. Apparently not knowing what was in store in his future _really_ didn't sit well with him.

"It's called 'The Trees on 4th Street'!"

"That doesn't mean anything, and you know I don't pay attention to the names of new releases!"

At one point, Rei looked pleadingly to Rin and Haru for help. When Haru just said that he didn't care what they were watching, the other boy just groaned and threw his hands in the air. Nagisa giggled and pinched his cheeks, flashing Gou a victory sign to the side.

Rin decided it was probably going to be a long night.

* * *

_A/N: The chapter started to get longer than planned, so I decided to split it in half. Next one should be up sooner!_


End file.
